Zee Media Bureau/Supriya Jha
Karachi: The rescue workers on early Tuesday morning retrieved the bodies of seven people, who had taken shelter in a cold storage facility in the Jinnah International Airport in Karachi to escape the deadly carnage staged by Pakistan Taliban.
The bodies were recovered after a marathon rescue effort that ended only this morning with Pak Army also assisting the process, reported Radio Pakistan.
The strenuous rescue work went on for almost 28 hours and the walls of the cold storage facility had to be levelled down for recovery of the bodies that were burnt badly and couldn't be identified, reported the Dawnnews.
The bodies were shifted to Jinnah Hospital for identification so that they can be handed over to their relatives.
All seven were reportedly the employees of a private cargo company and had been in touch with their families on phone, local media reports said.
The rescue work proved an immensely tough task due to fire, intense heat and debris scattered all over the place.
The seven had hidden themselves in the cold storage facility to escape the deadly Taliban assault that lasted for over 12 hours.
Ten terrorists were killed, out of which three detonated their suicide vests.
According to reports, 11 ASF personnel, two Rangers officials, one police officer and four Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) officials are among the dead.
Gunmen who were reportedly disguised as security guards attacked Karachi's international airport in the middle of the night yesterday, and several explosions were heard in the fighting that followed.
Accepting responsibility for the deadly airport seige that lasted for hours, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) group said it was in revenge for the killing of its late leader Hakimullah Mehsud. (Mehsud was killed in a US drone strike in November.)
Speaking to the AFP, TTP spokesman Shahidullah Shahid also threatened more attacks, and slammed the Pakistan government's peace talks offer as "a tool of war".
“It’s just the beginning, we have taken revenge for one (Mehsud), we have to take revenge for hundreds.”
Pakistan has been fighting a decade-old insurgency and thousands have been killed so far.
No major headway has been made in peace talks with Taliban since February, however PM Nawaz Sharif remains hopeful.
Karachi was last rattled by a brazen attack three years ago in May 2011 when terrorists had laid a 17-hour siege to Mehran naval base, killing 10 personnel and destroying two aircraft.
First Published: Tuesday, June 10, 2014, 09:23
